We got home from Ghana on Thursday (2/15) in the evning. I made it to Memphis with a pair of hand craved walking sticks that I had bought which they took away from me in the Amsterdam airport to put with checked luggage and I was sure that I would never see them again but no suitcases. They were finally both delivered by Saturday night.
We had a truly remarkable time in Ghana and saw so many sights we will never forget:
The hospitality of Lynn and Augustine Tawiah;
The mass of humanity in Accra and the traffic in Accra and Kumassi - it was like a constant game of "chicken";
The hope in the eyes of the children at the Village of Hope and the energy and encouragment that Tommy Drinnen brings to that work;
The eagerness of all our students at the Ghana Bible College to learn and to be lights of the Lord to their people in cities and rural villages all over the country and the extreme sacrifice they make to attend college there (most of them are in their late 20s to late 50s, many with families who they only see a few times a year);
The sacrifice of a few cents each the students made to buy Leanne and me "farewell gifts" of Ghanaian traditional sandals and kenta cloth;
The street vendors who come right up to the car with any item you might need or want including bags of water, ice cream, Milo chocolate drink, hankerchifs, ANYTHING (Augustine said Lynn is tempted to do all her shopping right from her car window!)-this is the original drive through!
The long and dusty drive to the rural village where Augustine grew up (just 10 miles from the border of Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and the warmth and friendliness of the people there;
The light and obvious pride in the eyes of Augustine's 90+ year old mother when she sees him;
The respect that Augustine commands in his village and those around it;. He took us to meet the mayor who interruped a meeting with a tribal chief to come out and talk with us for about 10 minutes; then Augustine arranged for us to be on the radio. Leanne even got to make a radio spot that will be played over and over!
The school Augustine has begun in his home village and the 391 children who are so eager to learn; they are in a building originally designed for 200 children, but the need has been so great that parents who can afford it are sending children from about 3-4 villages;
The way the children sit so attentively and listen even when there are 85 preschoolers to 1 teacher in a class;
the way the children raise their hands to be called on and then stand to address the teacher with such respect - that just about backfired on us in one clowning skit where Sadie (Leanne) told me to stay put but instead I followed her all around and she couldn't find me. She kept askig the children where I was but no one would be rude enough to yell out that I was behind her. She finally pretended to cry and one little boy raised his hand and stood and said, "She is behind you, Madame."
The sadness in the eyes of so many children who can't attend school because their parents can't afford the $10 per month to send them!! (Education is such a priviledge there)
My gratefulness to Richard, a volunteer children's minister from Accra, who made the journey with us to the rural school to help with VBS. The children understand the King's engish, but they don't always get Southern english so he was so valuable in helping me teach and I learned a lot from him!
Sometimes we had electricity and running water and sometimes we didn't. You just never knew when...The whole city would be blacked out and people would still have their little shops open by candle light or kerosene lamps.
There was huge nice houses, next to little shacks in the city and many of the people had their businesses build right in front of their homes.
It was a truly blessed trip and Leanne and I returned wanting to go back again. Thanks to Leanne for putting up with me and for agreeing to go on this trip in the first place. Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers, your encouragement, and your taking care of our families while we were gone. Please continue to keep Augustine and Lynn and their children, the men and women at Ghana Bible College, and the children, parents, and teachers at the rural school in your prayers. If you are interested in more information about how to help financially at either the Ghana Bible College or the rural school, please let Leanne or me know. And if you ever get a letter from any high school or college kid asking for a donation to go on a mission trip to the Village of Hope, send them some money, even if it's just $5! (Also look at my facebook if you want to see more Ghana photos.)
This is the seafood resturant where we ate the first night. We had coconut almond shrimp. It was good, but not nearly as good as at the Rainforest cafe in California.
This is me in the bushes outside the Salvador Dali Museum. It was a really neat exhibit that we went to today!
We ate gelato here today. It was good, but not as good as Italy.
These are the cousins who showed up...Robin, Diana, Me, Bill, Joyce, Kim, Linda...Bob was there for a while, but he had to leave to go see his girlfriend before we started taking photos,
Mama, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Des - their only other living siblings are Aunt Grace in Maryville and Uncle Aaron in Harrison, AR who weren't able to come.
My brothers and sister.
Kim and her husband, Robbie took a fun drive in Tim's car on those little curvy country roads.
Beckie with her scarf. Jessica brought scarfs that Vivian had given her girls last year to play on the beach...we had fun with them, too!
I really do have clothes on behind the towel! This is just one of the "Calendar Girls" photos that we have been saying we were going to do ever since we saw the movie. Mary Lou and Sally say they are going to print them on a calendar to raise money for the Sunshine School. I kind of doubt that they will make much money...we don't quite have the bodies or expose as much as the firemen so on their calendars.
I loved the look on Sally's face when she told "loopey" - that's always the first person out at 31 who has to serve goodies to all the rest - that she wanted a LOT of ice cream...She got about a tablepoon full. Sally and I might tie when it comes to ice cream being our favorite food.
Jessica decided to make a nose ring out of her glow lights. It was pretty funny!
My favorite pastime at the beach - relaxing and reading a good book! This was the first year in many years that I have been there that I didn't have to spend the morning studying for some upcoming class. I read alsmost a book a day...novels, mindless, fun reading!
Sally comtemplating her "31" cards
Making lovely earrings
Our beautiful flipflops that we made
glow ring favors from Sally and Mary Lou
Sally and Julie
This is one little piece of an e-mail I received from several friends for Mother's Day. Don't worry, Laura and John, I'm NOT hinting for a grandbaby but I do like and agree with the sentiment and evidently after our last conversation, John, the concern goes both ways! Love you both!
This is my dear friend, Beckie. Praise the Lord, she got all her stuff back from her harddrive except for e-mails! Those she can live without.
We had a great dinner and visit with Kate and Josh on Sunday night after we got to St. Louis. It was really good to get to be with them!
We took time this morning to visit the arch before going to the doctor. We didn't have time to go up in it. We spend time at a fly fishing store first...Let's just say that we are definately going to have to go back to St. Louis to sight see. There's lots of neat places there!
We were treated to dinner by "Ms" Frances," Leanne' mother for Leanne's birthday last Saturday night. It was a really fun time. "Ms" Francies is 95 and sharp as a tack! She has the funniest stories to tell and they are all real! If I can be that way I won't mind living that long but if I can't, I don't think I want to stay around that long. It was a delightful evening being with Leanne and Ed and "Ms" Frances!
Grandpa and Paarker
Joe, Jon, and Jeremy all grown up
Susie and Gracie
Kim, Willie, and Jake Abrams-Baker
aaPart of the Sunday crowd.
Jon and his new girl.
This is how I spent most of my Friday and Saturday afternoon. i even left out my yeary Wal-Mart run...needed to rest. 
Man signing for the deaf in church.
Quite a common sight.
These were a very frequent sight inside and out. They were quite colorful depending on where they had been and would not harm you.
Shops below and people live above in the apartments. This is one of the nicer places of business and living quarters we saw.
Can you believe that these ladies and even little children can carry this huge pans on their heads loaded with all sorts of items from bags of water to yams to wood and still carry a baby on thier backs too?!? Some men do it, too, but not as many as women.
These are some of the Bible students at the Ghana Bible college. I loved hearing them raise their voices in priase to God during chapel. the only thing is that the leader always sings the first line or two of the song and then says, :Go" and everyone else starts to sing. I never got the hang of that...I always stated singing when he did...I even told Leanne to hit me if I continud to do it, but it didn't do any good. Guess all those chorus directors all those years pounded it into me to start with the leader and it is a hard habit to break!
